Testimonials as a Powerful Promotional Strategy

“Testimonials represent the most powerful, productive and profitable promotional strategy I have ever encountered. Stop looking for a magic bullet recipe that will attract clients or advance your career. "Instead, hone your craft, develop your expertise or build your skills to such an extent that clients and colleagues will brag about you and your value." Michael Hughes. Testimonials are free and they are gold. If I were to go on and on about how great I am, I bet you would roll your eyes. Somehow when we toot our own horn, it's a bit off putting to people. But, when someone else testifies to my helpfulness... well then, maybe it's worth paying attention to.

The secret is to ask for them. When someone says; ‘Wow that was fantastic. That really helped me." That's your cue to say thanks and ask them if they would write you a quick email to that effect, or Ask: "Do you mind if I share that statement on my website"? Put those one sentence quotes on your LinkedIn profile, or your website and let those testimonials help you gain credibility.

Ask three people for whom you know you have been helpful, or who can speak to your character to write you one sentence. Ask them what you bring to the table, or what they value most about what you do, or how you are most helpful to them. Then, ASK them for permission to use the quote in your marketing. Post those quotes in prominent places.

Asking for permission is the key. One of my pet peeves is when I see testimonial quotes on a website that end without a real name like Kathy P from Topeka, or housewife from NJ. I immediately assume that the quote is made up. People who are unwilling to have their names be connected with your success are not worthy testimonials.

Here are some opportunities to gain testimonials. Training evaluations are nearly always anonymous. But, you could have a question at the end that says, if you are willing to share your comment as a testimonial, please indicate your name here. When people comment on your newsletter or blog, reply with a request to share the comment on your website. Or simply email your satisfied customers and ask them to write a sentence or two about your service to be included in your promotional materials or websites.

If you get a lot of ‘no’s’ to those requests, it’s time to take stock in your service or product value. If you are delivering high quality service, people will be happy to endorse you. Ask people why they are uncomfortable endorsing you and make adjustments according to their feedback. Once I had a person ask me for a testimonial and I told them why I was uncomfortable giving one. They listened to that feedback and made a great effort to change my opinion. About 6 months later, when my experience had been improved, I did write an endorsement letter. So, you can use this strategy to get valuable feedback about your service as well.

Testimonials will inspire confidence in others to work with you. So, ask for them today.

It's a Wonderful Dream

Have you seen that classical Christmas time film it’s a Wonderful Life? George Bailey has the seemingly perfect life: a loving wife, Mary, four beautiful children, and his own business. However, on Christmas Eve, George has serious business difficulties at the Bailey Building and Loan. George has a major financial crisis when his Uncle Billy loses the cash they owe the bank. The unsympathetic bank owner, Mr. Potter makes things worse. This leads George to a life crisis, and he considers suicide. A visit from his Guardian Angel Clarence shows George how much his life means by showing him how the world would be without him.

It's a magical tale of a man who's allowed to see what his family, his friends and his community would have been like if he had never been born. The moral of the story is that everyone is put on this earth to impact others in their own way. All of us have a unique contribution to make. Your contribution can change the world if you let it.

You may be living your dream and take comfort in this story because you know you are helping people and making a difference; even if times are tough, or things get challenging. The pause to consider the people you are helping will help you live to serve another day.

For others, your dream hasn’t even been born.

For those of us who let our dreams stay in our heads and not in the world; wouldn’t it be cool if we could have an Angel like Clarence show us what the world would be like if we DID bring our dream to life. Who could we help? What impact could we have? What ripple effect would our help have on the people that pass that help on to others?

Is your dream worth it? Can you make a lifelong impact by your special gifts and services? Things got tough for George in the movie, just like they will for you and me. But, in the end, the community came together to help him solve his problem and he was blessed by that. It all worked out. He had impact. The community made sure of it. "Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more." Anthony Robbins

You are not the only one that is hurt by keeping your dream in your head. Do you believe that the world deserves your dream as much as you do? So, do something today to make sure that your dream has the chance to impact people. Do one thing. Do it now!

Paradigms and Reinvention: The times they are a changin’

“When a paradigm shifts, everything goes back to zero. “ Joel Barker. In his now famous video from 1988 called Discovering the Future: The Business of Paradigms, Joel Barker introduced the concept of paradigm shifts into the business vocabulary. A paradigm is a set of rules and boundaries and the problem solving system for being successful within those rules. An example of a paradigm shifting in history was when the Japanese eclipsed the Swiss taking them from more than 100 years of nearly 90% market share in watch sales to only 33% within three years of the introduction of quartz watch technology. Ironically, it was the Swiss who had invented the quartz watch. They thought it was a novelty item and hadn’t even patented it. The Japanese saw it at a trade show and changed the way the world would tell time within a couple of years. Remember, when a paradigm shifts, you cannot count on past success. Everything goes back to zero.

Personal computers, internet marketing and websites like Facebook have changed the rules for sales and marketing completely. Tried and true marketing methods may still work, but simply can’t compete with these new ways of doing business. Are you on board? There is no slowing down change. While people are getting used to teleclasses and webinars, for example, there are new ways of learning right around the corner that will blow your science fiction mind. The world is spinning so fast with new technologies; it can be overwhelming.

These lyrics are truer now than when they were initially penned in the 1970’s in this folksy ditty by Bob Dylan, The Times they are a Changin’…

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

So the question you need to ask yourself is; are you offering something that is relevant to what the customers want and need today? Are you communicating with your customers in the way that they desire? The old paradigm was a push marketing strategy. You push your marketing stuff on them and then sell them. It was a transaction mentality. Today, it’s all about information and relationships. How have the paradigms shifted in your industry? Are you a lifelong learner that is committed to keeping up with the latest technological changes?

There is a danger in not keeping up with market realities. “People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.” ~ Warren G. Bennis. Just like the Japanese changed the paradigm for watches and computers for the way we work, your customers are changing and so must you. "You can and should shape your own future; because if you don't someone else surely will." Joel Barker

Work your Pareto Principle to find more Celebrators

I have a theory that we all can be a bit smarter about working our Pareto Principle. Remember that one? Vilfredo Pareto observed that 20% of the people in Italy in the 1904 had 80% of the wealth. Then, famed Total Quality Management Guru Joseph Juran took it one step further in the 1930’s began to observe the dynamic of the ‘vital few’ and the ‘trivial many’ and started making lots of generalized applications that basically mean that 20% of something is responsible for 80% of results. This became known as the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle. In other words, 20% of your customers give you 80% of your income.

Let’s apply this concept to your mailing list for a moment. I bet if you really looked at your list, you would agree that 80% of your list are people representing the trivial many; that is they are the tire kickers. They stay on your list, but don’t really buy much or anything at all. Then, 20% are your ‘vital few’ that we will call your paying customers. Mike Litman calls these two camps the ‘tolerators’ and the ‘celebrators’.

Let’s see if we can somehow better work the Pareto Principle? Do you always have to assume that no matter what you do; only 20% will buy? I think if we ask enough questions and begin to learn enough about our 20% celebrators, and then change our marketing strategies to reflect what we have learned about them, we can get more of them.

What do your celebrators have in common? What is their motivation? Why did they buy from you and not someone else? Ask your customers these questions often and begin to get a sense of the patterns that connect them to each other and to you. If you happen to notice that all of your paying customers are wealthy middle aged business owners, then begin to ask questions like; where are wealthy middle aged business owners right now? Are they at the country club? Do they go to an upscale salon? Do they value something in common? Where do people who value that hang out? Are they in the same online community? Are they at University Campus? Are they on a Facebook Group? Wherever you find them, meet them there. Join, participate and help them to get to know you too.

If you were really clear about your celebrators, could you change your marketing strategy to meet more and more of them, introduce them to your products and services and get more paying customers? Could 20% of your marketing effort create 80% paying customers, and not the other way around? I think so. It’s not just about working smarter; it’s about focusing smarter to get to the desired result.

What can you do to find more celebrators?

The Wisdom of Improv for Business Success

On three occasions in the last month I have met people who have referenced stuff they learned from the rules and structure of improvisational comedy. Once is rare, twice, is an interesting coincidence, but, three times is a pattern that is worth looking into. So, I researched the rules of improv comedy and learned some stuff that you may agree has an interesting application to business success.

"We discovered that not only does improvisation provide a way to understand what it takes to be spontaneous and innovative, but exercises used by actors to develop their skill can be adopted by business as a means to experience and enhance individual and organizational capacity to be innovative and responsive." Mary Crosson

There were several articles out there about the rules of successful improvisation. The following ideas were found on the www.improvencyclopedia.org website. Here are just a few key improv rules and my business applications.

Tell a story- Comedians begin with a story, the time, place, characters of a story by way of context for their message. You begin by sharing your story. Who you are and what you can do for people with your business.

Help people relate to your story- It’s only funny because people can relate to the story. You don’t actually have to be funny to be successful. The more you can relate to the problem or situation, the funnier it is to you. So, the more people can relate to the problem you solve with your business, the more they can relate to you.

Yes and- The scene is over when you reach a no. Comedians try to keep the yes ball up in the air for as long as they can so they can keep the scene going. ‘There is an elephant in the hallway’. If you said no there isn’t; the scene is over. If you say ‘Yes, but where did they find a sweater that large for him to wear”, the scene is still alive. How can you keep the ‘Yes and…’ alive in your sales conversation?

About your partner- There were a lot of rules about your improv partner. Listen to them, make them look good; give them information to help them out. In fact, it looks like one of the secrets of successful improvisation is to be more focused on the partner than on you. Too often we forget that the customer is our partner and for them to make us look good, we need to make them look good.

Have fun and relax- The audience loves to watch someone having fun. The customer wants to work with someone who is having fun. Love what you do and people will love you for doing it.

Sooner is better than later. Do it now- Great improvers see the opportunity and take advantage of it in the moment, when the timing is right and the opportunity is ripe. When an opportunity pops up, take it. Don’t talk about it. Do it!

You don’t have to be funny to be an effective improver!